THE MECHANICS OF HANGING. 503 



THE MECHANICS OF HANGING. 



By JAMES BARR, M. D. ' 



AS the subject of the mode of carrying out executions has recently 

 engaged public attention, the present is perhaps an opportune 

 time for discussing the question in its scientific and humane bearings, 

 so that some more definite ideas may prevail as to the best method of 

 hanging, and that the details may not be entirely left to the caprice of 

 the executioner. When the law requires the death-sentence to be 

 meted out at the end of a hempen rope, the dictates of humanity de- 

 mand that all the details should be carried out in " decency and in 

 order," and with a minimum amount of suffering to the culprit, and 

 from this stand-point I shall treat the subject. 



The mode of carrying out the sentence of the law, " be hanged by 

 the neck until you are dead," has usually been left to the discretion of 

 the hangman, the law taking no cognizance as to what is to be the 

 proximate cause of death. Calcraft invariably adopted the short drop 

 of about two feet and a half ; and if I may judge from some speci- 

 mens of his ropes, which are still to be seen at Kirkdale, death must 

 have been produced by a slow process of asphyxia. Marwood adopted 

 what is generally known as the long drop, of which he was supposed 

 by many to be the originator, though it was used long before his 

 time, both in Paris and in Ireland. 



To Professor Haughlon we are indebted for a scientific exposition * 

 of the rationale of the long drop, and of the mode in which death 

 takes place. Dr. Haughton also gives an elaborate explanation of 

 the American method, which is a scientific modification of the old 

 naval method of running the culprit up to the yard-arm. 



Having now briefly referred to the different modes of hanging 

 which have been adopted in executing criminals, we will be better 

 able to judge which is the best and most practical method when we 

 have considered the various causes of death. Professor Tidy f says 

 that " in hanging, as in drowning, death does not always take place in 

 exactly the same way. Thus, it may result from (1) asphyxia ; (2) 

 cerebral hyperemia ; (3) a combination of asphyxia with apoplexy ; 

 (4) syncope ; (5) injury to the spinal cord and pneumogastrics (neuro- 

 paralytic death)." 



Professor Hoffmann, \ of Vienna, says that, " in hanging, the noose 

 does not press directly on the larynx and the trachea, but almost al- 

 ways slips between the larynx and. the chin. In these cases the basis 

 of the tongue is pushed upward, and pressed against the posterior wall 



* " Principles of Animal Mechanics," 18*73. f " Legal Medicine," part ii, p. 385. 

 % "British Medical Journal," December 21, 1878, and May 10, 1879. 



